Nelson Freire

LISZT Harmonies du Soir / Freire 4782728

. . . for sheer pianistic accomplishment and musical finesse, Freire's Liszt recital is unlikely to be bettered during this anniversary year . . . a wonderful corrective to those who think of this composer's piano music as all flamboyant gestures and rhetoric. The overwhelming impact of this disc stems from the sheer beauty and elegance of Freire's playing, his crystalline tone and infinitely subtle range of touch and colour, which are combined with all the technique needed to cope with whatever challenges these pieces present him . . . Even a blowsy work like the B minor Ballade remains wonderfully controlled here, while the third of the Hungarian Rhapsodies is treated as a study in colour and pacing. Finest of all is the piece that gives the disc its title, "Harmonies du Soir" . . . it's sumptuous in its tonal palette, and ravishing in its delicacy and refinement.

This is immensely distinguished Liszt-playing . . . Freire seems utterly at one with the music, not only in terms of its innate poetry but also its astonishing diversity of texture and touch . . . But the special quality of Freire's playing is really that he seems to put you directly in contact with Liszt himself, without the performer's technique or personality standing in the way, which is very rare . . . Altogether an immaculate disc, enhanced by an excellently balanced recording.

To play Liszt one must possess an almost superhuman technique, an acute sense of detail, a large and varied palette of colors, and stamina galore to manage through the especially thorny passages found in many of the composer's compositions, never losing sight of the fantastical elements inherent in much of this music. Nelson Freire brings all of these qualities to the table . . . It is always a pleasure to listen to Liszt's music when someone with such a profound ability to play the notes and shape the lines fluently tackles this music and make it sound as easy as he does here. It is not just the technically difficult works here that astonish, however . . . Much of this program then is about subtlety and the way in which Freire is able to let the music speak for itself . . . [Valse oubliée]: In less than three minutes Freire is able to draw one's attention, bring one in, and keep one there. For me, his shaping of lines throughout is a high point. The way that the beautiful little melody pops out over the cushion of sound that he creates in the Ballade no. 2 . . . is palpable in effect; one's heart melts. His ability to alter timbre -- just witness the cimbalom effect he creates in the "Hungarian Rhapsody" -- is astonishing in its re-creation of the exact sound of the other instrument . . . his engagement with the music always ensures that the meaning behind the compositions is the first thing on his mind -- something that the listener is sure to hear in his playing. If Liszt is your composer, you should not be without this important disc.

In Mr. Freire's rich, majestic performances, Liszt's fireworks are always means to an expressive end. The album is anchored by a perfectly proportioned B minor Ballade and a flexible, capacious "Harmonies du Soir" (for which the disc is titled), but the highlight is an exquisite account of the six "Consolations".

Record Review /
Zachary Woolfe ,
The New York Times / 22. November 2011